Summer's Best New Convertibles from BMW, Ferrari, Jaguar, Porsche, and More

Jaguar F-Type

Base price: $69,925–$92,925

A cigar-shaped sports car provocative enough to make Freud blush, the E-Type forged a consensus as one of history’s most beautiful vehicles. Four decades after the E-Type’s demise, the F-Type gives Jaguar a true two-seat convertible—and another hit for Ian Callum, the former Aston Martin design chief who has transformed Jag from staid into sexy and chic. And the F-Type has more sensory drama in store. The V8 S convertible version especially, with its 495-horse supercharged V8, produces one of the most ripping, provocative exhaust notes in the business: one part London symphony, one part British heavy metal.

Photo: Courtesy of Jaguar Cars

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BMW 4-Series

Base price: $49,675–$55,825

Stylish four-seat drop-tops are increasingly rare, which makes the BMW especially welcome. The successor to the 3-Series convertible ups the ante with tautly wrapped skin around a fine bone structure. The retractable hardtop cuts interior noise, and neck warmers blow soothing air through headrests on chilly days. Performance heats up with a familiar pair of turbocharged BMW engines: a 240-horsepower, 2.0-liter four or a lusty 3.0-liter six with 300 horsepower.

Photo: Courtesy of BMW

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Bentley Continental GT V8 S

Base price (est.): $219,400

Defying the laws of physics and propriety, Bentley’s debonair four-seater does things that no 5,445-pound convertible should do: surging to 60 mph in 4.5 seconds and to a 191-mph top speed, as discreetly as a Downton Abbey butler. An updated Continental GT V8 serves up 521 horsepower yet manages a respectable 24 highway mpg.

Photo: Courtesy of Bentley Motors

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Mercedes-Benz SL63 AMG

Base price: $147,300

Coupe or convertible, the SL line has pampered owners since 1953, beginning with the now-museum-worthy Gullwing. But the 2015 SL63, from Mercedes’s AMG high-performance division, cranks up a modern brand of thunder, with 577 horsepower from a hand-built, 5.5-liter bi-turbo engine. A retractable hardtop robs some trunk space when folded, but the payoff is one of the quietest convertible cabins around. The mad scientists at AMG also revamped the SL’s body, suspension, brakes, and transmission, creating a rare combination of decadence and destructive force.

Photo: Courtesy of Mercedes-Benz USA

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Mazda Miata 25th Anniversary Edition

Base price: $33,000

The original Miata, released in 1989, was a two-seat stroke of genius—a Japanese take on vintage British roadsters, minus the vexing mechanical quirks. Twenty-five years later, the Miata’s joyful handling and spirit still charm in an anniversary edition that will bring only about 100 copies to the States. This collectible edition should satisfy the faithful until 2015 and the moment the convertible world has waited for: the debut of a new Fiat Spyder, built on the MX-5 Miata chassis.

Photo: Courtesy of Mazda Motor Corporation

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Ferrari California T

Base price: $198,000

Sometimes, just a little nip and tuck can turn an odd duck into a swan. Beverly Hills plastic surgeons will surely approve the California—a lovingly reworked body transforms this retractable hardtop Ferrari, once slandered as a bulbous West Coast poseur car, into a drop-top whose appealing lines echo today’s Ferrari F12 and its classic 250 Testa Rossa of the ’50s. “Transformative” also describes a new suspension, carbon-ceramic brakes, and engine—a 552-horsepower, twin-turbo V8 that marks Ferrari’s first production turbo since the F40 supercar 25 years ago.

Photo: Courtesy of Ferrari

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Aston Martin Vanquish Volante

Base price: $300,820

How does one top a Vanquish, the Aston flagship that’s already one of the world’s most beautiful supercars? It’s simple, just chop the top. Would-be 007’s can preen in every valet line and listen to the 565-horsepower V12 as it burbles from zero to 60 mph in four seconds. A bonded-aluminum structure supports a body made entirely of lightweight carbon fiber. The folding soft-top tucks neatly below a handsome tonneau cover, leaving plenty of trunk space for custom-fitted luggage.

Photo: Courtesy of Aston Martin

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Chevrolet Corvette Stingray Convertible

Base price: $56,995

For generations, slicing the roof off a sports car meant sacrificing performance because of the resulting loss of structural rigidity. But the reborn Stingray’s lightweight yet incredibly rigid aluminum chassis makes it stiffer and sharper-handling than many coupes. The all-new Corvette is stealth-fighter aggressive and comparatively affordable. It’s also 455 horses’ worth of versatility, combining a no-fooling 29 highway mpg, a 3.8-second blast from 0 to 60 mph, and a 175-mph peak.

Photo: Courtesy of General Motors Co.

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Maserati Gran Turismo MC Centennial Edition

Base price (est.): $165,000

Consider the Maserati’s soft-top the retractable bandshell for an outdoor concert—that’s a Ferrari-built, 4.7-liter V8 under the hood, with the baritone rasp and soaring 7,200-rpm peaks that could come only from Maranello. The body that wraps these high-performing cylinders looks like it’s rising from the ocean off the Côte d’Azur, from its sharklike snout to the trident grille badge that has marked Maserati for 100 years. Hence this Centennial Edition, with signature ink-blue paint, carbon-fiber seat shells, and an aerodynamic rear diffuser.

Photo: Courtesy of Maserati

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Porsche 911 Targa 4 and Targa 4S

Base price: $101,600–$116,200

Bigger than a sunroof, smaller than a full convertible opening—it’s called a Targa top. And the 911 has been its leading practitioner since 1967, when the model was born from worries that U.S. regulators might ban convertibles. Those feds wouldn’t know what to make of today’s version, a Rube Goldberg mechanism pops and pivots the wraparound rear window, grabs and stows a fabric roof panel behind the seats, and refastens the glass as onlookers gape. The bravura top even mimics the silvery roll hoop of vintage Targas, with a choice of rear-mounted inline-six engines supplying a decidedly modern 350 or 400 horsepower.